1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having a spacer for adjusting the height of the electrical connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors are employed widely with peripherals to transmit various signals with each other. Usually, such electrical connector comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of signal contacts retained therein. The insulative housing defines a plurality of passageways for receiving the signal contacts. Each of the signal contacts has a contact section for connecting with a corresponding plug and a soldering section for connecting with a circuit board. Sometimes, a special electrical connector which is thicker than other common electrical connectors is required in a kind of peripheral. Therefore, the insulative housing and the signal contacts must be changed, and the molds used for forming the housing and the signal contacts must be accordingly adapted resulting in high production costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,934 discloses such an electrical connector which solves the above problems. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing with a plurality of passageways, a plurality of signal contacts retained therein, a spacer positioned under the insulative housing and a plurality of connection contacts retained in the spacer. The insulative housing has opposite upper face and lower face. Each signal contact has an end portion extending through the passageways and out of the lower face. The spacer defines a plurality of receiving holes corresponding to the passageways respectively. The end portions extend into the receiving holes. Each connection contact has a connective portion received within the receiving holes to contact the end portion and a soldering portion extending out of the spacer. The insulative housing comprises a pair of locking elements extending integrally from lateral edges thereof. The spacer defines a pair of recesses being formed in side walls thereof for engaging with the locking elements to fasten the insulative housing and the spacer together.
According to above patent, the electrical connector having a different thickness can be formed with the existing connector, and need not to design a new mold. Therefore, the production costs can be decreased. Generally speaking, when the locking elements are much bigger, the fixation between the insulative housing and the spacer is much better. However, when the locking elements are big, it is very difficult to press them into the recesses and will not assure the assembly accuracy. When the locking elements are small, the spacer will disengage with the insulative housing easily. In fact, the size of the locking elements cannot be manufactured suitably too much and will result in a low quality.
Hence, an electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.